So for some reason this morning I was laying in bed thinking about dreams. Not the dreams you have at night but the hopes and bucket list type dreams. It may have had something to do with the fact that some former Young life friends stopped over for dinner and a late night out on the terrace last night. The conversation went to jobs-since they are all college students with the type of jobs that will make them a bit of money but they are not what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I was recalling my days of working at Shelly's back in high school and college where I could not imagine doing that for the rest of my life. I would sit there answering phones or marking off items that had been received thinking about what I wanted to do in the future. The world was wide open. I was young. I was supposed to have dreams and ideas for the future.
Somewhere along the line though people are expected to "settle down." Their time for dreaming is over and they are expected to get a job and get a house and LIVE life like everyone else.
These are the thoughts that were floating through my head this morning. And then I said a BIG "THANK YOU" to God because that is not the life He calls us to. That is not the life He has given me. He does not call us to forget about dreaming. He does not call is to settle into so-called life and just keep going following the crowd. He calls us to BIG dreams and to true LIFE. He calls us to ADVENTURE and CHANGE. Now all of that looks different to different people because I have met some people to whom adventure means leaving their state and I have met other people to whom adventure means going into the inner city or to others it is going to China to teach english but I believe God calls all of us to a life OUTSIDE of ourselves. A life where God is evident because it would not be possible without Him. I was reading in 1 Corinthians today and it says in vs 17, "for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel-not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." It got me thinking that I want to live a life that shows God's power-not empties it.
Ephesians 3:14-21 speaks about how wide and long and high and deep Christ's love for us is. It is beyond anything we can ask or imagine. He is in complete control and He wants great things for me and for you! I just need to remember that-and that is what I am often not very good at!
This summer was a summer of adventure.
It began right after school ended with a bus trip to Italy with about 40 High school and middle school friends. The way there was QUITE an adventure that included breaking down on the side of the road for about 5 hours and then making our way to a rest stop to spend another 7 hours waiting for our bus to get fixed. Once we arrived in Italy we had an amazing week of exploring Pisa and the Cinque Terre and getting to hear about and talk about the life giving love of Christ.
From Italy I headed to the states to visit family and friends. The first week back I went to the shore with my whole family and we had an amazing week of laughter and fun. It is so great to be together every summer! I've said it before and I'll say it again- I have the best(though sometimes craziest) family in the world! The next 2 weeks I got to spend with friends and family. It was incredibly life giving to me after a crazy but awesome year of ministry.
Me with my nephews Devon(14) and Tyler(16). Obviously they know how to grow!
Mom and the girls- we are lined up by age but I won't tell you our age- Just that wanda is a full 10 years older than me:)
the little ones got balloons!
Then I headed back to Brussels to be in a wedding of a friend and volunteer leader, Said. You probably remember me mentioning him several times in these updates. He met his wife Katie on our service project back in 2011 and now they are beginning life together in Brussels. So as you can see-we not only tell kids about Christ but we are also a great matchmaking service:)
Right after the wedding I drove to England to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to the Olympics. I have always been obsessed with the idea of representing my country in the olympics. I have always wanted to go and be a part of such an amazing thing. Now I can dream but I still have not figured out what I could be good enough at to make the olympic team but I decided going and representing as a fan would do for now!
My first event was the women's soccer- USA vs Canada. If you watched the game at all you know it was one for the history books and being there live was amazing. I had spent much of my time in the states finding any and all USA/flag things to wear so I could go all out in supporting teams USA. Needless to say I believe will be in more scrap books than any athlete:) People from India, Israel, USA, UK, canada, etc all took my picture:) I even got featured on the USA Today website- here is the picture. It is me and my high school friend Macey-I was sitting with some good friends, the Mcdowell's from Atlanta, which made it even more fun!
this was the crew on the way up to Manchester-it was about a 4 hr drive each way-well worth it!
after the game the were saying thank you to the fans
Off to see women's basketball
watching some cycling in olympic par
at the P&G house
The cool cab in the P&G house- there was no seat but I made it work:)
you could take green screen pics but it was closed so we took our own
women's wrestling- ask me about it some time.
me and some friends at the gold medal game
walking around London was just plain cool!
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